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Topic: Caputo Red? New bag (Read 19339 times)

I got a shipment from Penn Mac today. I ordered the Caputo 00 pizzeria flour, which they list on their website (the 2.2lb individual bags). I usually got the blue bag (http://lacuisineus.com/catalog/images/caputo00.jpg), but I received a red bag, which I haven't seen before.

Anyone know if the flour is different?A photo of this new bag is attached.Thanks!

Essen1 (Mike) mentioned this flour to me recently, which prompted me to email Fred Mortati at Orlando Foods, the U.S. importer of the Caputo flours, to get more information on the flour. The reply I received (yesterday) from Fred is as follows:

It is the pizzeria flour. We call it chef's flour for marketing purposes.12.5% protein.

I was wondering whether PennMac would still offer the Caputo Pizzeria 00 flour in small, repackaged bags. It appears from your receipt of the The Chef's Flour that they may no longer offer the repackaged product.

Pennmac does still sell the 5lb bags. I just ordered two a couple of days ago, together with two bags of the Chef's flour. I didn't know then that it was the same stuff until Peter got the reply from Fred Mortati.

I have a hunch that maybe, just maybe, the demand for Caputo 00 Pizzeria has gone up here in the US and that it hopefully will also hit the shelves of your local supermarkets, but I guess that's just wishful thinking for now.

Our GM, who is from Naples, called to tell me that Caputo 00 was on the shelves of Central Market here in Dallas - the one at Coit & George Bush for any locals. I didn't ask him what color, but will try and swing by and see...Central Market is kind of a Texas version of Whole Foods (although we have that too...).

Shortly after you posted last night, I sent an email to Fred Mortati at Orlando Foods asking for clarification on the three Caputo products you referenced. I included a link to your post as an example of the confusion that has arisen on this matter. This morning, I received the following reply from Fred, which he asked me to share with the members:

Thanks for the link, I saw the posts and now understand the confusion. Here is the situation: All three products are the same. Reason for the packaging differences are as follows:

00 Pizzeria 25kg blue bag is for Foodservice. It has been the face of the Caputo brand for pizza and will remain so.

00 Pizzaiuolo 10kg is a package that Antimo Caputo uses in Italy for a certain segment of his trade. Exactly why he went with red I am not sure. We bring in this 10kg bag to give out only as samples, not for sale.

00 Chefs Flour 1kg red bag. This bag is strictly retail. We redesigned the bag to be more appealing to the consumer and to have some English description that would allow a consumer to understand that it is more than just an “all purpose” flour. In fact, Antimo and I have been looking at changing the graphic on the front of this package. The picture of the pizza on front gives the idea that it is only good for pizza, whereas this product is versatile and good for bread and pasta as well. We are going to change the picture to one that encompasses these other items as well, leaving the description the same and the flour in the bag the same. We want to start working on a retail presence so this will be a starting point.

Thank you so much for the clarification, Peter. Their marketing rationale makes sense, since I have found ways to use the pizzeria flour for things other than pizzas - not because it excels for other uses, but because I always have leftover pizza dough balls.

BTW, if Fred is reading: you might suggest Caputo find someone to do a better translation for the English ("tradition roasting dishes")

There must be some communication problem along the way..and it might be on my end,but there is no way in the world that the Blue and the Red are the same product.I am almost through my 55 lb bag of blue and working on my 5 th or 6 th bag of red.They mix up differently and cook and taste differentlyBoth excellent, but different.

There must be some communication problem along the way..and it might be on my end,but there is no way in the world that the Blue and the Red are the same product.I am almost through my 55 lb bag of blue and working on my 5 th or 6 th bag of red.They mix up differently and cook and taste differentlyBoth excellent, but different.

Caputo has more than one blue and red colored bag style. Can you post photos of the blue and red to which you are referring?

I don't know if this will help clarify matters but last night I went back to Fred Mortati with pizzaboyfan's observations and this morning got back the following reply from Fred:

I think I understand. The Blue bag in the picture under the post which is questioning the similarity of product is the 00 Extra blue. This is an all purpose bread flour. Furthermore there once existed a blue 1kg bag which had this same flour. Here is where all the confusion started. The new 1kg bag which is red has the PIZZERIA flour (12.5-13% protein) in it. The 00 Pizzeria flour 25 kg is a darker blue bag w picture of pizza and Mt Vesuvio on front and word “Pizzeria”.

Let me try to make it even simpler:Under Bill/SFNM post reply #12 on 3/25 there are 3 pictures: 00 Pizzeria 25kg, 00 Pizzaiuolo 10kg and 00 Chef Flour – these are all THE SAME item.

Under Bill/SFNM post #17 yesterday, please note that the blue bag in the picture is NOT PIZZERIA FLOUR. It is 00 Extra. Anyone using this will see a HUGE difference between the Pizzeria 25kg or Red 1kg and this product.

I really hope this helps. Please make sure the guys understand that the PIZZERIA flour and the CHEFS Flour are the same item.

The 55# pizzeria flour is in bag that has two layers of paper, the exterior with the printing on it, and the interior brown paper. The pizzeria bag also has a blue plastic lining on the top of the bag. The small chef bag is a single layer of a different white paper.

I have noticed that the chef isn't capable of absorbing as much water. I would blame it on the packaging allowing the flour to absorb water out of the air more easily than the double blue bag.

Just a guess. other than the absorption issue, they seem exactly the same to me.

I'm dragging this old thread up because I was trying to figure out which Caputo to buy.

According to Fred, the retail 1kg Chef flour in the red bag is the same as the 25 kg Pizzaria blue bag. But when I go to the Caputo website and open their respective data sheets, the 1 kg Chef flour inthe red bag shows 13.5% protein and the 25kg Pizzaria blue bag shows 12.75% protein.

I have a couple of the 1 kg Chef flour red bags and I noted the didn't produce particularly tender NP crumb. I am not experienced enough to say whether it's my techniques or the flour.

Here's some info I got from a german wholesaler after I complained about their false advertising. They got in contact with Caputo and this is what they told me (with some comments of my own):The red 1kg "Chef's flour" is NOT the same as the blue 25kg Pizzeria flour. As you noted the specs are different. In fact, the "Chef's flour" is more like the Rinforzato flour in the 25kg bags (but still not identical). This is not to say that this "Chef's Flour" is a bad Pizza flour, though - on the contrary. It just needs a longer maturation time because it's a stronger flour, I'd say that a 3-day dough would be the minimum for the red "Chef's Flour". The blue 1kg bags also are NOT identical to the blue 25kg - it's more of a general purpose Tipo 00 flour (that's why you see all sorts of products printed on the package, too). As far as I know the only way to get the "real" Pizzeria flour from the blue 25kg bags is to buy the blue 25kg "Pizzeria" bags. However, the "Chef's Flour" is indeed a good Pizza flour, it just needs a different treatment.

Interesting! I guess you contacted gustini, where I am also buying all my pizza ingredients. I've been using the Blue 1 Kg Bags for my latest Pies and I am very satisified. Very light and soft taste and great workability of the dough. Original "Pizzeria" or not - it's an excellent flour nonetheless. I'll test the "Chef's Flour" next...